


Never Again

by Glass_Oceans



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, Ficlet, M/M, Smoking, Soft Kylux, blood mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 17:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13081275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glass_Oceans/pseuds/Glass_Oceans
Summary: Sometimes the hardest part of maintaining command is maintaining control.





	Never Again

**Author's Note:**

> This is the soft kylux ficlet I wanted to write after seeing The Last Jedi (so contains movie spoilers), and was partially inspired by [this art](http://first-disorder.tumblr.com/post/168666125134/the-general-is-malfunctioning) by first-disorder

Hux felt like his joints would snap from the pressure he was putting himself under, holding himself to a reasonable pace as he stomped through the corridors towards his quarters. He could feel the strain of the leather across the back of his clenched fists, the tightness of his uniform collar around his neck, and worst, the rage-red monster that threatened to tear at his heart and claw its own way out from his throat if he refused to give it outlet.

After the Supreme Leader had exerted his power over him on the bridge of his own ship, flinging him about like a broken toy, Hux had pulled himself to his feet and resumed his duties. He had glared down the lieutenant who had approached him to suggest he visit med bay, but accepted the conciliatory cup of caf they had offered shortly afterwards. He had pressed the cup to his split lip, relishing the pain from the press of the hot metal rim, sipping the steaming beverage slowly as he oversaw operations. No one else dared cast their eyes towards him.

When his shift ended, he handed over his data pad to his second in command, eyes narrowing as he noted the woman’s crisp salute, but also how her eyes darted away from the smear of blood that was still on his skin. As he turned to leave the bridge, one thumb came up to his chin, flaking away the dried blood before he caught himself and lowered his hand to his side. He went to his quarters without guards, without accompaniment of any kind, and was grateful at least that he wouldn’t also have to keep up the veneer of pleasantries.

As the doors of his quarters finally slid closed behind him, he reached up and began to carefully tug at his gloves, loosening each finger in turn before tugging them loose from his hands. He wanted to ball them up and throw them against the wall, following them with the contents of his desk and scream himself hoarse, but such actions would only leave an echo in his mind that Snoke would read with ease at their next encounter. The Supreme Leader could read his every outburst like it was displayed above his head, and would punish him accordingly. So instead he inspected his gloves for traces of his own blood, and set them neatly on his desk with hands that trembled only slightly.

He moved through his quarters, shrugging off his greatcoat and hanging it in place before retrieving his cigarette case. As he cupped his hands unnecessarily around the tip of his cigarette when he lit it, he willed his shoulders to fall, trying by sheer force of will to ease the tension in his body. When it inevitably failed, he drew deep on the cigarette, curling his tongue around the smoke in his mouth as he held the breath until his lungs started to burn, before blowing the smoke forcefully from his nose.

He lifted the cigarette to his lips again when he heard the doors to his quarters slide open. He sighed before he took another drag; only one person who think to enter his quarters without announcing his presence. He glanced over briefly as he exhaled and watched as Kylo Ren, mask-less, threw his own gloves down on the desk beside his own. Hux frowned at the way they lay across the desk, knocking his own askew, but he could recognise that to call him up on such a minor detail would be petty in the extreme.

Instead he turned back to the transparisteel window as Ren tramped across the space between them, waiting until Hux lowered his cigarette to reach out to him. He paused when he saw the split in Hux’s lip, drawing his thumb gently across it, noting Hux’s miniscule flinch when the cut caught and reopened from the pressure of his touch.

“What happened?” Ren asked.

Hux turned his head away from Ren’s touch under the pretence of taking another drag, though he kept his face angled away as he exhaled the smoke.

“Nothing,” he sighed, watching the wisps of smoke from his word swirl and dissipate in front of him.

Ren reached for him again, and though Hux tried to shake off his hand, he found his chin gripped in Ren’s massive hand as his head was turned to meet his gaze.

“What the kriff is wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” Hux repeated.

“You’re shaking.”

Hux felt his lip curl in the beginnings of a snarl, and just as quickly he smothered it down. Not quick enough, however, for the Force user standing barely a foot away.

“I see,” Ren said.

He stepped fully in front of Hux then, blocking his view of the star field beyond the port, and discarding the stub of the cigarette from his hand, throwing it down to the mouse droid that had been cleaning the ash from the cigarette as it fell. Before Hux could offer up a protest, Ren’s hands were on either side of his face, cupping his jaw and forcing him to look where Ren directed.

“He won’t hurt you again,” he said, his eyes dark with anger. “He won’t control you again.”

Hux’s lips parted to argue with the Knight, but Ren crushed his lips against his, pulling at the tear in his lip again. At the dart of pain, Hux felt the monster stir to life and lifted his own hands to tangle them in Ren’s hair, pulling at him to attack Ren’s lips with teeth and fury, tasting the coppery tang of blood and finding himself unsure which of them it belonged to.

When Ren pulled back, Hux tried to follow, tried to pull Ren forward by tightening the grip in his hair, but Ren hissed and forced Hux to stillness. He looked at Hux’s lip, thumb rubbing over the cut to coax more blood to the surface, even as he lapped at this own lips with the tip of his tongue. He could taste Hux’s emotion as he could taste his blood, roiling beneath the surface in the desperate desire to rend and tear, to leave his mark with tooth and claw and body in the only manner Snoke would not suspect. He longed to make Hux his canvas, and to be marked in turn, leaving bruises that are cherished, scars that are between them and them alone, not left as symbols of ownership or crass dominion.

“He will not do this again,” he whispered against Hux’s lips. “I’ll make sure of it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my wonderful beta [Woe](http://woehuxbub.tumblr.com/).


End file.
